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GTA West

According to Larry Petovello at the Mississauga Economic Development Office, the city is growing by over 1,000 new businesses, 15,000 new jobs and 18,000 people a year, with the office reporting tremendous expansion in all key sectors: biotech and pharmaceuticals, IT & telecommunications, automotive, aerospace and call centers. AstraZeneca, a multinational pharmaceutical company, is undertaking a major expansion -- one of the largest in the history of the Canadian industry - with a new C$250 million, 320,000-sq.-ft. (29,700-sq.-m.) production facility involving 700 new jobs.

The Royal Bank of Canada is opening a new, C$22 million, 820,000-sq.-ft. (76,200-sq.-m.) call and data center with 6,000 employees. Ingram Micro is building a new 450,000-sq.-ft. (41,800-sq.-m.) office complex and adjacent 500,000-sq.-ft. (46,450-sq.-m.) computer distribution-and-service center. FedEx has under construction a new 145,000-sq.-ft. (13,500-sq.-m.) office complex and 250,000-sq.-ft. (23,200-sq.-m.) sorting-and-distribution center. (Colliers' spring 2000 report says Mississauga has the most available industrial land in the GTA.) All this new business is also spilling into the hotel and hospitality sector, says Petovello. Marriott is building a 250-room hotel, and the new Hilton Garden Inn will have 150 rooms.